


What kills you makes you stronger

by ohsko



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: F/M, Quarrel friendship, more than quarrel friend?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohsko/pseuds/ohsko
Summary: In some cases, fighting is a form of conversation, more than vocal communication for them.
Relationships: Megaera & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Kudos: 6





	What kills you makes you stronger

Megaera stands in the last chamber in Tartaros. She has closed her eyes, folding her arms and thinking, ‘what am I standing here for?’ The room is quiet enough to hear the sound of air movement, enough to listen to the footsteps approaching her. She has already been thinking about the question time and time again, but the answer is always the same: Lord Hades had sent her here to do the right thing, just do your duty, kill the prince Megaera. In fact, she has done it very well in the past several times. Without cutting corners, without slacking off, without overthinking. Situations around her -for instance, the relationship with her siblings- have always been complicated, so that she wants to make herself simple, at least during the work. But her head has been gradually twisted every time she beats him. ‘What does it mean to keep fighting with him?’  
The burning footsteps halt. Megaera raises her heavy eyelids slowly. Zagreus stands in front of her with a cheerful face. 

“Hi there, Megaera. Met again?”  
Megaera teases. "I didn't know you have such a poor memory, Zagreus. Don't you remember the result last time?"  
"Oh, yes, you got me the last time. But you know, tomorrow is another day! I don't know when tomorrow is, though."  
"Ha, too optimistic. I won't let you pass here no matter how many times you challenge, fool."

Megaera jumps to the air turning her body and then lands with a crouching pose. Her eyes are sharp, aiming at the prey.

"Okay, let's start the same thing."  
Zagreus grips his sword and shows the shine of its body to her. "Who knows, this time is the same."  
"God knows, not you."

Megaera kicks the ground powerfully and dashes towards Zagreus at top speed. Right just before her whip attack hits his chest, Zagreus shifts his body aside and turns around her back, raising the sword. Sparks scattered from the burning foot passing in front of her face. Gritting her teeth, Megaera twists her upper body first, swings her leg to Zagreus. Her kick smashes his head, and his body is blown backward.

“Wow.” He rises, wiping nose blood. “You’re so fast.”  
“You are slow and too simple.” She holds her whip up. “Predictable, easy-to-deal-with.”  
“You know me very well, huh? Can you imagine what I’m thinking?”  
“Idiot. No need.”

Megaera rushes to Zagreus again, but this time he dashes backward as if he escapes from her. She chases him, but he keeps avoiding standing in front of her.

“You got scared?” Megaera says. “If you change your mind, I can send you back home in a little bit gentler way. You wanna?”  
“Haha, no. I'm just thinking.” Zagreus laughs. “About how to beat you in an extremely gentle way.”  
“Ha! Can you really keep thinking such a stupid idea with THIS!”

Megaera leaps and rotates rapidly in the air. Then, the room begins to tremble, and Zagreus feels something rising from beneath his feet. He quickly steps back twice, escaping from the earthquake area. The next moment, red pulses blow up from the ground, cracking stone floors into pieces. Zagreus feels relief that his body wasn't broken like stones, but his bare soles already catch the warning of the next wave. He has to keep running around the chamber as if a cat is chasing a poor mouse.

“Hey, Meg! How do you do that?” Zagreus says, averting the attack of the pulse. “It’s convenient to wipe all foes out at once, isn't it? I wanna use it as well!”  
“I recommend you to taste it if you want to learn about it.”  
“Oh, no, I don't want to. Definitely not.”  
“No pain, no gain, Zagreus, even though you're a slow learner.”

Megaera spawns more pulses. Of course, she knows where they happen the next. This means that she can cut off Zagreus's escape places and bring him to a certain hunting point where she wants. “Okay, when he comes in front of me next, ” she thinks, “my whip assaults him, and that's the end.”  
As she assumes, he, who loses any place to go, gets to her front. She tightly grasps her weapon, and at the same moment, as she lands on the earth, she sprints to raid him. “Die!” However, what jumps at her eye next is Zagreus grinning fearlessly. Why the hell is he smiling? Megaera gets a bad feeling and tries to halt her attack. But, it is too late. In the next moment, she loses sight of Zagreus. When she notices why he vanished, he is already above her head. Zagreus is soaring in the air. Time around them is momentarily getting slow, in which their eyes meet each other. He no longer smiles, but his binary-colored eyes shine like a beast just before catching prey. Time flows again. And while he is falling, Zagreus slashes Megaera's shoulder with Stygian. "Ah!" The sharp pain runs over her back and makes her kneel on the floor. Zagreus approaches her and spreading his arm like a kid who wants to brag about his good job.

"I modified my way following your kind advice. How was it? Was it predictable?"

Megaera stands up slowly and then turns back to him without answering his questions.

"Why did you smile?" she asks.  
"What?"  
"Right before you jumped, you smiled."  
"Aha, because I did realize your intention." He lightly scratches his chin. "You wanted me to come in front of you, did you? To pierce me with your straight dash. I knew that because that's your favorite way to kill me. Even if I fortunately dodged, you probably would have the confidence to beat me with your wide-range whip. So..."  
"So You escaped to the air."  
"It is!" He makes a finger gun motion at her. "I got this idea just before you got me. That's why I smiled, maybe? I don't know. To be honest, I didn't notice I did so. Eh, but at that time, I thought, 'I am the one who knows you the most'."

The reason why Megaera has to kill Zagreus is just that it's her job, her boss's order, her duty. The reason why Zagreus confront Megaera is just that she is an obstacle to his aspiration. This conflict has made them repeatedly fighting over and over. Much enough to know each other profoundly. Much sufficient to understand the opponent's thought each other.  
Megaera feels her blood run along her leg. It makes a tiny red pond under her foot and gradually spread on the ground. The pain is still on her back, creating an annoying loud heartbeat. 

"Are you alright, Meg?" Zagreus asks her in a slightly worrying voice. "you are getting too hurt to keep fighting, huh? I recommend you to let me pass here, and then you take a rest. What do you think?"  
"You’re too optimistic." Megaera laughs, whipping the ground. "We are still even. Not the end. Anyway, you must be tired, huh? Do you still want to keep running just like a pitiful rat?"  
“Oh, no, I don't want to anymore. Definitely not.” Zagreus shrugs and holds Stygian up. "But, okay, let's resume the battle."

Megaera emerges from the pool of Styx. She casts off drops of blood, shaking her head. Hypnos, who was sleeping, wrapping with his soft cape, wakes up and notices she is in the House.

"Oh, Megaera! It's been a while, huh? Why are you here? Ah! Wait, wait, wait, let me check the lists... you were... killed by... Zagreus? Wow, really? He did it? Finally?"  
"Shut up, Hypnos."

She looks up at the House ceiling with a bitter feeling and understands how he has felt every time he was killed by her.  
"It's not a good taste, you know," she thinks. "Okay, I owe you. I get you the next time because I am the one who knows you the most. This is why I stand in front of you, Zagreus."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> I personally think Meg understands what Zag thinks, including his desire to the surface, but she needs to kill him due to her position. So she wants the reason.
> 
> You can find me on Twitter @ohsko_the_human


End file.
